by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
performed by Elvis Presley
The warden threw a party in the county jail.
The prison band was there and they began to wail.
The band was jumpin’ and the joint began to swing.
You should’ve heard those knocked out jailbirds sing.
Let’s rock, everybody, let’s rock.
Everybody in the whole cell block
was dancin’ to the Jailhouse Rock.
Spider Murphy played the tenor saxophone,
Little Joe was blowin’ on the slide trombone.
The drummer boy from Illinois went crash, boom, bang,
the whole rhythm section was the Purple Gang.
Let’s rock, everybody, let’s rock.
Everybody in the whole cell block
was dancin’ to the Jailhouse Rock.
Number forty-seven said to number three:
“You’re the cutest jailbird I ever did see.
I sure would be delighted with your company,
come on and do the Jailhouse Rock with me.”
Let’s rock, everybody, let’s rock.
Everybody in the whole cell block
was dancin’ to the Jailhouse Rock.
The sad sack was a sittin’ on a block of stone
way over in the corner weepin’ all alone.
The warden said, “Hey, buddy, don’t you be no square.
If you can’t find a partner use a wooden chair.”
Let’s rock, everybody, let’s rock.
Everybody in the whole cell block
was dancin’ to the Jailhouse Rock.
Shifty Henry said to Bugs, “For Heaven’s sake,
no one’s lookin’, now’s our chance to make a break.”
Bugsy turned to Shifty and he said, “Nix nix,
I wanna stick around a while and get my kicks.”
Let’s rock, everybody, let’s rock.
Everybody in the whole cell block
was dancin’ to the Jailhouse Rock.
(1957)
A collaboration between Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse the album in it’s entirety is available for streaming online for free at NPR. From NPR; The album features:
The album has been released by the artist as a blank printed CD-R along with a poster. User’s are then led to their own methods of getting the music on the disc. This was after a dispute with record label EMI. It seems the only ones to win from this is the artists and the fans.
Earlier this month Justice David Souter stepped down as a 3rd Circuit Court Appeals Judge (each Supreme Court Associate Justice also is a member of a Circuit Court) earlier this month. At a farewell speech he decided to give lawyers and judges for that Circuit a bit of wisdom. Quoting from Algernon Charles Swinburne that “Such fruit as men reap from spent hours and wear.” From the Article, Souter said he asked himself, “What are the fruits that I have reaped?”
It is now the eve of Justice Souter’s planned retirement from the Supreme Court. President Obama is expected to nominate his replacement sometime later this week. More from the poetry mentioned in his speech below.
Such fruit as men reap from spent hours and wear,
Few men, but happy; of whom be thou, O son,
Happiest, if thou submit thy soul to fate,
And set thine eyes and heart on hopes high-born
And divine deeds and abstinence divine.
So shalt thou be toward all men all thy days
As light and might communicable, and burn
From heaven among the stars above the hours,
And break not as a man breaks nor burn down:
For to whom other of all heroic names
Have the gods given his life in hand as thine?
And gloriously hast thou lived, and made thy life
To me that bare thee and to all men born
Thankworthy, a praise for ever; and hast won fame
When wild wars broke all round thy father’s house,
And the mad people of windy mountain ways
Laid spears against us like a sea, and all
Aetolia thundered with Thessalian hoofs;
Yet these, as wind baffles the foam, and beats
Straight back the relaxed ripple, didst thou break
And loosen all their lances, till undone
And man from man they fell; for ye twain stood
God against god, Ares and Artemis,
And thou the mightier; wherefore she unleashed
A sharp-toothed curse thou too shalt overcome;
For in the greener blossom of thy life
Ere the full blade caught flower, and when time gave
Respite, thou didst not slacken soul nor sleep,
But with great hand and heart seek praise of men
Out of sharp straits and many a grievous thing,
Seeing the strange foam of undivided seas
On channels never sailed in, and by shores
Where the old winds cease not blowing, and all the night
Thunders, and day is no delight to men.
Who will beam me up
now that you have gone?
Who can I rely on
to keep me safe,
as my particles
disintegrate?
Now when I board
with my pass
to fly business class,
it won’t be the same.
I’ll still whisper your name
and close my eyes.
But…surprise, surprise;
all my parts will remain
on the aeroplane.
And my wish won’t come true
Because you
have beamed yourself up,
Scotty.
Featured as a first place prize winner in a Writing.Com’s Star Trek Writing Contest in 2007. Maria Quinn an Australian just released a book this year titled Gene Thieves, and is avaiable here.
Jesse Ventura (Navy Seal, Wrestler, and Minnesota Governor from 1999-2003) was on Larry King last Monday night giving commentary on the White House Correspondence Dinner, the disputed Minnesota Senate election, and other things. It appeared Ventura wanted to say his quip of poetry very badly, as he mentioned it three times during his interview.
On the night that Jesus Christ supposedly rose from the dead,
The Navy SEALS shot three pirates straight through the head.
Copyright 2009 by James McGowan. Photos are Copyright by their respective owners, they are listed as Creative Commons, out of copyright, attributed, or my own.
